12 February 2012

Skandies: #7

Picture: Melancholia (148/15)
Director: Kenneth Lonergan, Margaret (142/14)
Actress: Leila Hatami, A Separation (129/15)
Actor: Jean Dujardin, The Artist (114/10)
S. Actor: Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method (124/13)
S. Actress: Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter (175/15)
Screenplay: Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene (81/11)
Scene: "Vltava," The Tree of Life (99/7)



HISTORY:

Lonergan placed 11th in 2000 for You Can Count on Me.

Hatami makes her first appearance since placing 15th for Leila in 1999. Mortensen has two previous nods in the lead category, both in Cronenberg films, at #2 (A History of Violence, 2005) and #5 (Eastern Promises, 2007). Chastain made her Skandies debut yesterday. (I would have bet considerable money against her not being one of the "nominees" this year, and lost. But then, I voted for her performance in The Debt rather than either of those that placed.) Dujardin is new, and, again, so is Durkin, this being his feature debut.

12 comments:

Michael said...

Wait, you mean Chastain's performance in The Help isn't coming up?

Ha. Ha ha. Hahaha ha ha.

Nictate said...

Very happy to see MELANCHOLIA in the top 10. My hopes were not high for that during voting.

Outside of my personal distaste for THE TREE OF LIFE, this top 10 will be tough to top in terms of breadth and brilliance.

Jeff said...

While clearly a step down from ANTICHRIST, MELANCHOLIA has its moments. Too bad about the wedding though.

A little surprised by Lonnergan's showing outside the top 5. COuld be due to the fact that fewer people saw it or that it is viewed as a "writerly" picture, which is wrongheaded.

And after these last two, I am looking forward to a sexy poster gracing this sight.

md'a said...

Outside of my personal distaste for THE TREE OF LIFE, this top 10 will be tough to top in terms of breadth and brilliance.

I think you're forgetting about Martha Marcy May Marlene. (You also forgot to notice that it is awesome.)

Private Joker said...

I'd argue against Hatami being a lead actress in A SEPARATION. There are large chunks of the film where she's totally absent, and while her actions set the film in motion, it's Moadi's story (and Sareh Bayat's) -- making Hatami's the character with the third most prominence at best. (You can argue the daughter and Bayat's husband have more focus than Hatami as well).

Then again, I gave points to Berenice Bejo in lead, and she's probably supporting as well.

Nictate said...

I think you're forgetting about Martha Marcy May Marlene. (You also forgot to notice that it is awesome.)

You're right, I was glossing over MMMM's presence. I'll acknowledge MMMM is "awesome" in two ways: Olsen's performance and JLL's cinematography.

I was also glossing over my nose holding over UNCLE B., but its princess segment remains "awesome." At least UNCLE B. is a curious creature of a film, unlike ToL's bloated peacock.

...or that it is viewed as a "writerly" picture, which is wrongheaded.

Very much agree that that is wrongheaded. If another director had shot MARGARET, there's no way it could've lived up to the stubbornly alive version Lonergan created. He had to be the god of that universe.

Ryan said...

I should've re-watched the 2nd movement of Tree of Life and compose an entire ballot consisting of scenes from that section. This clip convinced me to order the Blu-ray pronto.

My other regret here: Dujardin would finish probably at least 2 places higher had I caught The Artist before the deadline.

md'a said...

My other regret here: Dujardin would finish probably at least 2 places higher had I caught The Artist before the deadline.

Not to worry. Dujardin was a good 50 points away from 5th, and even getting him to 6th would have required more than 20 points from you.

Michael said...

See, that's what I like about this group. Many of us can (rightly) meet The Artist with a shrug but still acknowledge that Dujardin is awesome. (I just caught up with his cameo on the Zooey-hosted SNL, doing a silent-era-vs.-Nouvelle-Vague dance-off. Nifty.)

For the record: I gave him no points. An oversight, really. I should have.

md'a said...

One "flaw" of this survey is that great performances in mediocre/bad films inevitably get overlooked, simply because few see them. Not really the case with The Artist, but e.g. Viola Davis didn't make our list, though she probably deserved to (even if not up near the top). I wouldn't know, skipped The Help. See also Bechir.

Michael said...

Yeah. Now I feel sorta bad for chucking that screener in the dumpster.

Private Joker said...

One "flaw" of this survey is that great performances in mediocre/bad films inevitably get overlooked, simply because few see them.

And that is a shame -- I've sort of tried to champion the great performances in shitty movies since I've been voting. This year I gave points to several actors in films I was 3/10-5/10 on, such as Ellen Page in SUPER, Keira Knightley in LAST NIGHT, Jennifer Aniston in HORRIBLE BOSSES, Russell Brand in ARTHUR, and Colin Farrell in FRIGHT NIGHT.

Of those, only Page made the top 20, but I really think if anyone suffered through LAST NIGHT they'd be impressed by all that Knightley tries to do to make that film work. Also, Farrell is at his funniest and most charming in FRIGHT NIGHT, and the kind of performance he really hasn't given since TIGERLAND.